Beacon's Night
by Avatar Wolfheart
Summary: "We're going to die aren't we." "Absolutely." "Seriously guys." "At least we'll die as a team." "No offense, but that doesn't make me feel any better." In which, Team NNYX takes the place of Team JNPR and a character study ensues and my writer's block is broken. Also in which I half ass a summary.
1. In Which Weapons Lead to Friendship

**Chapter One: In Which Weapons Lead to Friendship**

* * *

Legends. Stories passed on through the ages of time, imparting tales of great acts of heroism against the overwhelming power of villains. To most, they are just fantastical stories to teach morals to youths or simply to entertain, but like all stories there exist fragments of truth in those tales.

Someday this too may become a legend, but I hope that by writing this tale down perhaps this fragment of truth can become passed down to future generations. As extraordinary as they may be, heroes are also human prone to the same mistakes, heartaches, and fears.

* * *

"Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!"

Her cousin's shriek could have woken the dead. The reason for the shriek, a spider that had chosen to crawl along her shoulder and was now dangling from a thin thread connecting it to the girl's flailing arms. Natsuki ignored the looks that were fixed on them as she caught the girl's arm before she got smacked in the face. She pinched the tiny eight-legged creature between thumb and forefinger.

"I can never understand how someone that is training to be a Huntress can be so afraid of spiders."

"Because they're icky and small and you never know where the are. And they make sticky webs for unsuspecting people to walk through. Also because they are the spawn of Mother Satan herself."

Natsuki just sighed and leaned back against the wall, pulling her black cowboy hat down to shade her eyes while she crossed her legs, spurs jingling.

"Why are you wearing your spurs anyway?"

"Why do you have Dust tattoos?" Natsuki shot back without moving. "They're just a much of a weapon as Tempest is."

"Well, I get that, but why are you wearing the jingle bobs."

At that Natsuki frowned and glared down at the back of her heels where the small metal balls hanging on the outside of the spurs would ring out against the metal of the spur whenever she moved. "Cassidy put them on when I wasn't looking and I didn't have time to take them off before we left."

"Well, just make sure you take them off before initiation. You don't want those giving away your location when you're in the Emerald Forest."

"Emerald Forest?" Natsuki repeated and then pushed the hat back to stare at her cousin. "Nanami, what is initiation? You've been making vague comments about it since you joined Beacon last year."

"Don't worry about you. I mean you don't have wings like me," Nanami rustled her golden brown wings in demonstration. "But wolves always land on their feet right."

"That's cats," Natsuki deadpanned. "And why would I need to lan-"

"Shh, everything will be fine," Nanami cut her off, pressing a finger against her lips. Beneath her hat, Natsuki's wolf ears angled backward suspiciously while the tip of her tail twitched sporadically. "Oh, look its Goodwitch."

A news feed that had been playing on one of the holographic screens was suddenly replaced with an image of a stern-looking blonde huntress.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon! My name is Glynda Goodwitch." Natsuki glanced at her sister from the corner of her eye. She had never seen her cousin this focused before. "You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy! Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world.

"We ask that new students report to the auditorium as soon as the airship lands. Returning students we ask that you make your way to your Team dorms to check in and that you do not wander the campus until classes start on Wednesday. Thank you."

The holographic screen shut off, giving the two cousins an uninterrupted view out the glass window opposite of them and the tall spires of Beacon Academy. Gasps and murmurs of awe were echoed by new students as they flocked to the windows for a better view. Natsuki shot a glance through the window beside them towards the city of Vale.

A commotion farther down the airship dragged Natsuki attention away as a blonde boy rushed towards a garbage can with his hands clasped over his mouth. Welcome to Beacon indeed.

* * *

Xander was having a great day before one of his fellow students got airsickness. Everyone around him was excited and totally hyped to actually have gotten into Beacon. There was some nervousness as well, but his own good mood allowed him to ignore that and he allowed the excitement of the moment carry him away on a natural high. Then he suddenly found his stomach doing flips in empathetic queasiness to the airsick boy that rushed past. Sometimes - most of the time - having a semblance that he couldn't turn off really, really sucked. Especially when the other students' emotions around the boy went from excitement to disgust and cruel amusement at the boy's predicament.

Good mood ruined, he drifted to the far end of the airship where there weren't as many people. He passed two faunus on his way and made sure not to stare at the taller of the two despite his curiosity about the wings on her back. Were they strong enough to support her weight? Could she fly? He did, however, find his gaze lingering on the wolf faunus because 'Oh my Dust, she's dressed like a cowboy. . . or was it cowgirl and the rifle slung over her shoulder looked so awesome and it was just so cool and. . . Oh. That was new. He had never felt such a mess of emotions before. Nervousness and excitement were to be expected, but there was also guilt, longing, and wariness. And most of all was the love and care she had for the other girl. It was powerful and moving and Xander was not at all ashamed of the way his eyes began to water. Because the only time he'd felt a familial love that strong was when he was with his mother.

The girl's sudden irritation directed at him suddenly snapped him out of the moment. He realized that he was staring and that she had fixed him with a piercing glare. The taller girl at her side had also begun glaring at him and he gulped nervously at the harmful intent both girls were directing at him while the older cracked her knuckles. Smiling nervously he gave a tiny wave before practically fleeing back the way he came towards the nearest set of doors as the airship finally docked at Beacon. The airsick blonde from before rushed out the door ahead of him, leaning over a trash can as he lost his breakfast. Xander staggered as he was once again subjected to the boy's queasiness and staggered to the side out of the path of the other students to recover so he didn't lose his breakfast as well. The rush of excitement from the departing students peaked and he found himself easily overwhelmed by the sudden surge of emotions that were not his own. Needing a chance to breathe and recover before he was driven crazy, he plopped down onto a nearby bench to wait until the majority of the students had passed.

By the time he felt ready to get up almost everyone had already left the airship docks. He ran a hand through his long black hair with a sigh as he realized he didn't know where he was supposed to go. A sudden explosion caused him to raise an eyebrow and rush towards the sound. There had to be people there and maybe he could get directions.

Instead, he found a young girl of maybe fourteen or fifteen, laying in a crater in the ground. Sad, disappointed, and lonely. Xander sighed tugged at his green jacket to straighten and brushed his hair back before he moved to stand over her. Her wide silver eyes opened as his shadow blocked out the sun. Alright, Xander. Time to be a gentlemen. Don't be weird.

He smiled kindly and held out a hand. "Hey there, need some help."

She accepted his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. He hid a wince at how tight her grip was. Dust, was she strong.

"The name's Xander."

"Ruby."

Nailed it.

* * *

Totally not nailing it. This girl was like awkward to the nth degree. She was nice and kinda cute, but shyer than anyone he had ever met. After several painful minutes of silence, Xander tried and failed to think of a conversation starter.

"So. . ." Ruby suddenly said in the awkward silence. "I got this thing."

From beneath her red cloak, she pulled out a large clunky object that was equally as red. It unfolded into a weapon that the girl spun like it weighed nothing before burying the tip in the sidewalk.

"Is that. . ." Xander's eyes widened as he stared at the weapon. "Is that a scythe?"

"It's also a customizable high-impact sniper rifle!"

Xander clapped his hands together with a squeal, eyes filled with stars. "That. Is. So. Cool."

His handsome, charming gentlemanly status was officially ruined. But who cared because it was sniper scythe and it was so cool and the engineer in him wanted to take it all apart so he could see how it all worked and Ruby Rose was officially his new best friend. He had to take a picture to send to Simon. His brother would love it as much as he did.

"So what've you got?"

Xander swept his jacket back to draw his twin revolvers. "I got these babies. Meet Kaminara Burett."

Ruby's eyes lit up. "Awesome. You don't usually see people using classic weapons like revolvers these days, but the classics are cool too."

"Oh, but there's nothing classic about these." He spun them by their trigger guards to grab them by their barrels as the rips rapidly unfolded into a curved crescent blade that connected to the barrel. "Because they're also dual hatchets."

"So cool," Ruby said breathlessly.

"The bullets are custom made too." Xander grinned and returned them to their revolver form so he could remove one of the Dust bullets. He held it out to the awestruck girl, who quickly returned her weapon beneath her cloak so she could take. She closely examined the bullet, turning it this way and that so she could exam the pronged tip and the yellow Dust that could be seen encased inside.

"Is that Lightning Dust?"

"Yeah. My brother came up with the design. He calls them taser bullets. He made my guns too."

"Your brother? Isn't it traditional for Hunters to make their own weapons or have them passed down to them?" Ruby asked passing over the bullet.

"Well, yeah, but my brother made these revolvers for me when I was younger. The barrel used to be a lot shorter because my hands were smaller. I loved the design so much that I asked him to help me make a bigger pair."

"Your brother must be a pretty skilled engineer then."

"Oh, yeah. My brother's famous back in Atlas. You actually may have heard of him. Simon Irving."

"You're related to Simon Irving! They say he's so amazing that he can even tell what weapon would fit his clients the best."

"That's him. But can I tell you a secret? It's actually his semblance. See he can look at anyone and know exactly what kinda weapon would be best suited to them. He also has the ability to look at a weapon and know exactly how it works."

"Best semblance ever."

Xander laughed, his smile genuinely happy. And here his brother told him he couldn't make friends via weapons.

"By the way?" He suddenly asked. "Do you know where we're going."

"Oh, uh. I don't know. I was following you."

* * *

Natsuki stood near the back of the crowd of students gathered in the auditorium, wolf ears pressed flat against her head beneath her hat. An unfortunate thing about being born with two sets of ears was that noises were amplified and when packed into a room like this, it was quite painful. Leaning all her weight onto one leg, she lightly kicked at the ground and then frowned when she couldn't even hear the jingle of her spurs over the racket. She glanced back towards the door where the last few stragglers were wandering in. Her gaze narrowed as she caught sight of the boy that had ogled her back on the airship. As if sensing her stare, he looked away from the girl in red he was talking to and right at her only to flinch and recoil. He then tilted the other away as if someone had bumped into and turned while holding up his hands as if apologizing only to freeze as there was nothing there. The girl with him was looking at him in confusion and Natsuki found herself raising her eyebrow and turned her attention back towards the currently empty stage.

A few minutes later a tall man with gray hair stepped onto the stage with a coffee cup in one hand and a cane in another. He adjusted the microphone and Natsuki closed her eyes with a wince at the piercing squeal of feedback. Thankfully it cut through the chatter and everyone fell silent to listen to him.

"I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction." Was this meant to be inspiring? "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

He had indeed kept it short and without another word, he left the stage. Glynda Goodwitch stepped up to the microphone, briefly shutting an irritated glare at the Headmaster's back.

"Thank you, Headmaster. You will all gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, you're initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed."

Natsuki frowned. She was grateful that they didn't have to stay in the auditorium anymore, but the Headmaster's behavior made her curious. He'd seemed almost absent-minded and distracted. She could only hope that the rest of her teachers wouldn't be this way. Putting the thought out of her mind, she adjusted the rifle slung across her back into a more comfortable position before rushing outside to avoid the press of the crowd as the headed to do the same. She inhaled the fresh air gratefully, tail waving slightly in relief while her wolf ears perked up in relief.

* * *

Natsuki felt strangely uncomfortable without her cowboy boots or rifle after having them for the majority of the day. She felt far more uncomfortable in the onesie that had replaced her normal nightclothes. She didn't know when Nanami had time to go through her packed clothes, but she knew it had to be her because only her cousin would think it amusing to make Natsuki have to sleep in a lamb onesie in front of her peers. She was quick to glare at anyone that some much as giggled in her direction. She'd even kept the hood of the onesie down in hopes that no one would realize that she was currently a walking pun. One busty blonde girl had beamed as Natsuki walked past and didn't flinch from her glare.

"Nice sheep's clothing, Wolf."

The wolf faunus felt the low rumble that built up in her chest, barely biting the growl back because normal faunus didn't growl. At that moment it was probably a good thing that Natsuki didn't have her weapons as she would have been tempted to either shoot the girl or kick her, an ax kick, with full force and her sharpened spurs. Instead of violence, she just adjusted her hat to make sure it covered her wolf ears before stalking off to one of the far walls where another faunus girl was sitting in a kimono.

"This spot free," She asked between gritted teeth, failing at keeping the anger out of her voice."

"Go ahead," The stoat faunus replied, and the gestured to the boy that lay on a sleeping bag a few feet away. "This seems to be the faunus corner anyways."

The boy was tapping away on a tablet with a pair of headphones covering his ears. Natsuki could see the webbing between his fingers that gave away his identity of some sort of aquatic based faunus. The tablet he was using was something Natsuki hadn't seen in a long time. Most people had switched over to using Scrolls once they had come out five or so years ago. She stretched out her sleeping bag against the wall and then offered her hand to the girl.

"I'm Natsuki."

"Yasmin."

A spark flashed between their hands and Yasmin flinched, letting it go quickly. "Ah, sorry. Didn't mean to shock you."

"It's fine."

Natsuki blinked and when her eyes reopened she was briefly confused as for a moment Yasmin didn't seem to exist at all, but then she was back just as quickly. Natsuki found herself shaking her head, chalking it up to just her mind playing tricks on her.

"Hey Wolfie, nice pajamas!"

Natsuki bristled at the burly human boy that stood over her. She rose quickly to her feet not liking the way he loomed over her. To her surprise, the other faunus rose as well.

"Leave her alone," Yasmin told him darkly, the brown fur on her tail visibly bristling.

"And what are you supposed to be? Some sort of weasel?"

The boy was making no effort to keep his volume down and dragged the attention of everyone nearby to them. Several people were glaring at him, but there was an as equal amount who were laughing and jeering. The rest were watching on apathetically and no one even made a move to come to their aid. Natsuki could no longer contain her ire. The lights flickered wildly above them and the bully tipped his head back to look up at them in confusion and so didn't see the way electricity suddenly began to crackle around Natsuki's body. She was pissed and she would love to show him just what she thought of him.

"Don't," The faunus boy told her without looking up from his tablet. "You'll just get in trouble."

Knowing he was right, Natsuki took a deep breath and calmed her silence but couldn't fully control her shaking. The boy took looked back down at her when the lights stop flickering and sneered.

"Ah, have I scared the little puppy dog."

"Not cool dude!" The voice cut through the air clearly and Natsuki felt her eyes widen at the sight of the boy from the airship. "It's not very gentlemanly to insult a girl you know."

The bully scowled at the interloper. "What do you know about being manly? I could probably snap you in half with one hand."

"I said gentlemanly, not manly, first of all. And secondly, I'm pretty sure I could kick your ass."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, it is."

The bully threw a rather sloppy punch at the airship boy's head. It had power but not much skill behind it. The boy ducked under the punch, spun around behind his back, planted his foot on the other's behind, and gave a hefty shove that sent the boy sprawling. Several other students had to quickly roll out of the way to avoid being crushed by the bully.

"Consider your ass kicked."

Laughter echoed around them at the bully's expense and the boy that had just literally kicked his ass, placed his hands on his hips and smirked. Natsuki stared at the boy in shock, but quickly wiped the expression from her face when he turned to look at them.

"You girls, okay."

"We're fine," Natsuki replied and then her gaze flickered to the bully as he got up and fixed a glare on the boy.

As the bully bellowed and charged both Natsuki and the boy moved in sync. The boy stepped aside and Natsuki caught the bully's fist in the palm of her hand. She clenched her fingers around his fist and the boy actually let out a pained whimper, his aura the only thing keeping her from crushing his hand. She shoved him backward away from him and the boy cradled his hand protectively to his chest before deciding injury wasn't worth it.

The boy let out a slow whistle. "You're pretty strong for a girl."

Natsuki narrowed her gaze at him. "Thank you for your help."

"And go away," Yasmin added and Natsuki was briefly startled because up until then the girl had actually been rather pleasant.

"Of course," He accepted, a knowing glint in his eyes as he sauntered off.

* * *

 **This is an alternate universe to my other RWBY fanfic, Heart to Heart. There are two reasons I decided to write this fanfic. The first is to overcome my writer's block for Heart to Heart while the second is as a character study of my OCs and how they get along with team RWBY by replacing team JNPR with NNYX. At some point, I plan to do the opposite with NNYX in the place of RWBY. This story is also the first in crossposting on Archive of Our Own under the name ContagiosulyWeird. Artwork of NNYX (save Nickolas) can be found on my DeviantArt account, 3wolfjones4. You may notice that Natsuki's clothes and weapons are different than what they are in Heart to Heart.**


	2. What is Teamwork?

**Chapter Two: What is Teamwork?**

* * *

Waking up was painful. Why? Because someone had stepped on his chest. It was a rather rude awakening especially since it was less of a step and more of a jump. Nickolas grumbled sleepily at the other student, but the girl was lost in her own head singing as she ran around another boy who had a look of utter resignation on his face. Rolling to the side to avoid being stepped on again, he found himself facing the wall where the other two faunus had slept. The wolf girl and her lamb onesie -which had actually been kinda cute - were already gone, but the stoat faunus was still fast asleep. Or at least she looked like she was fast asleep. The sudden kunai knife that appeared in front of his face assured him that she was in fact awake.

"I will stab you if you keep staring at me like a perv."

"Weren't we supposed to leave all our weapons in the locker rooms?" He asked curiously.

He blinked and the knife was gone. "What weapon?"

"Oh, you're good."

A slight smile appeared on the faunus' face before she sat up with a quiet yawn. "Where's Natsuki?"

"The wolf in the onesie."

"Oh," He shrugged. "Don't know, I just woke up myself."

"It's morning! It's morning!"

Nickolas groaned and dragged himself from his sleeping bag. "I'm going to go get ready before that girl wakes everyone up and there becomes a line for the bathroom."

"Same."

The two faunus went their separate ways, but while he beat the line of people for the bathroom, he wasn't able to escape the singing girl. She had followed the boy she'd been circling in the ballroom and had kept up a ceaseless chatter while they got ready. The girl also had no shame apparently and Nickolas found himself having to face the wall in the bathroom to ignore the girl changing. Thankfully it was only the three of them and the other boy shot Nickolas a grateful look for his gentlemanly behavior.

Nickolas returned to roll up his sleeping bag and toss it on the small pile of sleeping bags that Beacon had lent its new students before heading to the one cafeteria that was open strictly to the first year students. He completely avoided the side of the room where the noisy girl sat and found a completely empty table where he could eat his breakfast and work on his tablet in peace. As more and more people woke up, the cafeteria began to fill up and people sat down at his table. They took one look at the earbuds he had in though and chose wisely not to try and strike up a conversation with him. He kept an eye for either of the two girls as he ate, but saw neither of them enter. Maybe they didn't like breakfast. He did, however, see the boy that had defended the two last night.

He was speaking with a shorter girl with a red cloak. His head was propped up on one hand and he was gesturing with an apple in the other as they spoke. Nickolas averted his gaze with a slight blush. Heroics. They got him every time.

Deciding that he was full, he dumped his tray and headed for the locker room to retrieve his weapon and store his tablet. There he re-encountered the two faunus girls. The stoat, whom he never got a name from, was arming herself with more knives than he'd ever seen one person care before. He had no idea where she stashed them all, but by the time she was finished she couldn't see even one knife. She was dressed like a ninja in mostly black except for a swishy bright cape that faded from white to royal purple and slightly darker purple sash belt thing. The last thing she removed from the locker was her primary weapon. There must have been a magnet beneath her shirt as they remained against her back when she placed them there. From his own locker, he couldn't get a good enough look to see what they were but he was able to quite clearly see the gold chain that connected the two and dangled down her back.

Natsuki, on the other hand, had significantly less in her locker than the other faunus. With her rifle slung over her back, she propped one of her booted feet up on a bench and began fiddling with the spur. When she noticed him watching her, she narrowed her eyes at him and then yanked the blue bandana around her neck up to cover her mouth. She then turned her back on him, ponytail swishing behind her and Nickolas realized something he'd missed last night, that her hair matched her tail. It was common knowledge that faunus fur color and hair color were the same so he wasn't surprised that her hair was the same creamy orange as her tail. He was amused though by the fact that she had dyed the end of her hair black to match the black tip of her tail. He smiled to himself and grabbed his weapon from his own locker. He slung his ammo belt across his torso diagonally before grabbing the bright orange shotgun and slinging it over his shoulder by the strap.

 _"Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."_

Well, this should be fun.

* * *

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

And that explained why they were standing on cliffs overlooking said forest, why? Natsuki glanced down at the silver tile beneath her feet with narrowed eyes before looking back up at the two professors.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of "teams." Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates today."

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with who you can work well," Ozpin said and took a sip of his coffee. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

Natsuki blinked uncomprehendingly for a moment as she tried to wrap her mind around what he'd said. How was that supposed to pair up people who'd work well together? Further down the line, there were various exclamations of shock which the headmaster calmly ignored.

"After you're partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path. . . or you _will_ die." Another calm sip of his coffee. "You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?" A boy raised his hand at the end of the line but was ignored. "Good! Now, take your positions."

Positions? Natsuki glanced down the line at the poses that were being taken and then down at the silver tile beneath her feet. Suddenly all of her cousin's earlier comments made sense. With a click, the tile rose up beneath her feet and flung her over the side of the cliff after several of her fellow classmates.

Cursing mentally, she hurriedly dropped her hands to the coil of rope wrapped around her waist. With her aura, it was doubtable that she would die if she hit the ground, but it would definitely hurt. Freeing the rope from her waist, she gave the loop at the end a quick spin before throwing it behind her, lassoing the very top of a tree and slowing her momentum. Twisting the rope around her hands and wrists before it was yanked out of her hands, she swung down towards the forest and the tree she had lassoed. Branches whipped against her face and arms before she collided with the tree trunk feet first. Exhaling a shaky breath, she clung tightly to the rope for several moments.

* * *

Nickolas couldn't help the scream that tore from his throat as he sped towards the ground. He had no semblance and his weapon wasn't suited to stopping or slowing his flight like his classmates' were. Then his eye got a glint through the trees. Was that? It was. Altering his flight before he could pass the glint by, he tucked his arms against his sides and angled downwards. With an almighty splash, he hit the surface of the lake. The water was cold and refreshing and he quickly swam towards the bank, the webbing between his fingers allowing him to cut through the water like the otter faunus he was. Once he'd pulled himself from the water, he shook his head like a dog, scattering water droplets from his light brown hair. And people always thought him strange for always wearing a wetsuit top and swim trunks.

* * *

Yasmin drew her dual kusarigama from her back with a flourish. The folding blades snapped out as the golden chain whipped around the air. She caught a tree branch on the curved blade and swung, launching herself onto the branch of another tree. Folding the blades of her dual weapons she returned them to her back.

* * *

Coiling her lasso around her waist, Natsuki took off in a northerly direction. Beneath her hat, her ears swiveled towards any sound, alert for Grimm.

"Watch out!"

Without warning, something heavy crashed down atop the wolf faunus, knocking her off her feet. Reacting instinctively, Natsuki rolled and came to her feet above her ambusher. The sharpened blades of a spur resting against its throat. The boy from the day before groaned in pain and then waved as he croaked out a greeting.

"Hey. Thanks for the catch."

A low growl rumbled in her throat as she stalked away from him.

"Woah, wait. Hold up partner."

Of all the people she could have partnered with, why did it have to be him?

* * *

"Where did you come from?" Nickolas demanded of the stoat faunus as she stood atop the slowly dissolving Ursa he'd been fighting.

She just rolled her violet eyes and yanked her weapon free from the corpse. Her hand flashed out and another Ursa behind him cried out in pain as the kunai knife impaled it in the eye. Nickolas spun, transforming his shotgun into its trident form to stab it in its unprotected throat. Tearing the spear free he spun back towards his new partner who was fighting another Ursa, weapon shifting back to its shotgun form. Without taking any time to aim, he fired. The slug shot through its eyes before the ice Dust inside activated. Ice spikes shot out of the skull and mouth, killing it instantly.

"So I never got your name?"

* * *

His new partner sucked. Xander didn't know what he did to offend her, but he didn't have to be an empath to tell she didn't like him. He did wish he was telepath though because then maybe he would have been able to figure out what it was about him that she disliked. He'd helped her yesterday with that bully and yeah, he'd landed on her, but it wasn't like it was on purpose. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. By doing so he didn't see the branch until it snapped into his face. His aura protected him from damage, but he still swore violently out of startled surprise as he staggered backward.

"Right in the fricken eye."

Natsuki stopped and glanced back at him. "Are you alright?"

Genuine concern and annoyance. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just stung a bit is all."

"Then we should continue moving." And once again the cold shoulder.

Xander rubbed at his eye and started to follow her until something behind some brush and trees to their left caught his attention. "Hey, check this out."

His reluctant partner sighed and rejoined him, helping to move some of the vegetation out of the way so they could see the ancient marking surrounding the mouth of a cave.

"This looks promising doesn't it."

"I'm not so sure about that."

"Ancient markings? Ancient ruins? There's no harm in checking is there?"

He could feel her skepticism, but instead of arguing she just gestured towards the cave mouth in resignation. Thanking her, he gladly took the lead. The deeper they traveled into the tunnel, the darker it got until he had to put his hand out against the wall to guide his way. Perhaps he should have thought to bring a torch.

"Are you satisfied yet?" Natsuki asked behind him.

"Just a little farther," He insisted and then turned with the tunnel when it suddenly made a sharp left-hand turn. And then there right in front of him was the glowing gold relic. "Aha, I found it!"

He reached out to grab it with both hands because it looked really heavy and found himself grinning fiercely.

"That's not the relic," Natsuki's alarmed voice came from somewhere behind him and he heard the sound of her racking a bullet into the chamber of her rifle.

A wave of malice washed over Xander, so strong it drowned out his own emotions as a blast of warm air hit him. Tiny glowing pinpricks of red light suddenly appeared before the golden relic lifted into the air and him with it.

"Shi-"

* * *

With the screams of her unwanted partner echoing behind her, Natsuki booked it. As a wolf faunus she had excellent night vision and as such had seen quite clearly that Xander had grasped the tail of a giant Death Stalker. She'd fired one useless shot that rebounded off the bone plating that covered its head and body and decided when its beady eyes fixed on her that it was in her best interest to 'nope' her way out of the enclosed space. She burst through the cave opening with the hope that the entrance would be too small for it to follow. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be as it busted through the solid stone with its massive moss-encrusted claws. Xander was being slung around through the air, still holding tightly to the tail.

"Do something!"

She brought her rifle up to her shoulder and shot, the bullet once again pinging uselessly of the plates. Well shit.

"Xander, try to hold on for as long as you-" The Grimm's tail swings backward and then snaps forward, launching the screaming boy through the air and leaving Natsuki all alone. ". . . can."

She gulped nervously as the Death Stalker snapped its claws menacingly. "Umm, hi."

Slinging her gun onto her back, she hightailed it out of there as the massive and very poisonous Grimm scuttled after her.

"This is your fault!" She shouted at Xander as she chased off in the direction he was thrown.

She doesn't know how long she runs for, but apparently, the Death Stalker didn't appreciate her not standing still for it to devour her as it began to uproot trees around them. Her scream of terror is entirely justified as she dashes from the treeline into a large clearing. She'd found the Ancient Ruins and the relics. And there were people, including her new partner.

"Xander!" She bellowed and then dived to the side as a woosh of air warns her of the swinging claw.

Muscles aching, Natsuki resigned herself to the fact that she couldn't keep doing this for too much longer. She needed some space before the monster could catch her or worse stung her. She'd already lost one limb to a Death Stalker's poison, she didn't need to loose anymore. With a small spark from her semblance, she activated the small Dust mechanism within her cowboy boots. Yellow electricity crackled around the soles of her feet before turning blue as she took control of it with her semblance in order for the massive boost of speed that put quite a chunk of distance between her and the Grimm. As fast as the Dust helped her to move physically her brain was still too slow to keep up and she caught the small lip of stone from the ruins. She landed with a ungraceful thump between the blonde girl who'd insulted her yesterday and a dark haired girl who stared dumbfounded at the wolf faunus.

"Did she just run all the way here with a Death Stalker on her tail?"

Natsuki winced and pushed herself up, grateful for her aura. "Yes, I did and it's all his fault."

"Sorry," Xander said weakly with a wince then held up a rather large golden rook. "I got a relic though."

"It's still coming," Yasmin remarked, startling Natsuki as she had not noticed the other girl standing next to the male faunus from yesterday.

The blonde suddenly lets out an angered shout, startling all those nearby as fire flickered in her mane of hair. "I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something _crazy_ happens again?!"

Exactly two seconds later, a girl Natsuki didn't recognize pulled on the blonde's sleeve and pointed up. "Umm. . . Yang?"

High above them, a speck of white could be seen hanging onto the talon of a giant Nevermore. Was that the Schnee heiress?

"How could you leave me?!"

"I said jump!" The girl responded.

"She's gonna fall," The black haired girl stated in response.

"She'll be fine."

"She's falling," Xander pointed out.

Natsuki exchanged glances with her fellow faunus. The boy seemed apathetic to the whole situation while Yasmin wore a very slight smile where she stood behind him. The heiress' high pitched scream was cut off abruptly as she hit the ground several yards away.

"Think she's dead?"

"She will be soon if we don't do something," Natsuki replied as the Death Stalker set its sight on the prone girl.

"Not if I can help it," The young girl shouted and rushed towards the Grimm with a battle cry.

"Ruby, wait!" Yang shouted and chased after the girl.

Natsuki swore and swung her rifle off her shoulder. Ruby fired her weapon for a speed boost before swinging the blade around in a curved arc. The blow struck one of the hard claws and the Grimm swiped her to the side like she was nothing more than a pesky fly. The girl seemed to realize this monster wasn't one she could fight and turned tail and ran towards the Schnee heiress. A shriek sounds above them from the Nevermore and a hail of black feathers shoot down. One catches Ruby's cloak and yanks her off her feet. The rest stopped Yang from reaching her.

"Ruby!"

The Death Stalker approaches the struggling girl but changes direction towards the easier prey when the Schnee heiress slowly sits up.

Natsuki swore and fired off a couple of shots before launching herself forward with the Dust in her boots with several short bursts. The giant golden stinger of the Grimm plunged down towards the dazed girl. The wolf faunus threw her arm out to block the strike. The point struck the inside of her forearm and the force of the attack drug her arm down to pin it. The Schnee let out a startled cry as Natsuki's arm knocked her back down, but keeping the stinger from piercing into her chest and releasing poison into her bloodstream. The faunus swung her rifle across her body and worked the lever action rapidly with one hand as she fired. It wasn't the most accurate way of shooting, but all she cared about was distracting the Grimm.

The Death Stalker let out an aggrieved cry, tail pulling up to try again. A gunshot rang out from behind them and the Grimm suddenly found its legs encased in ice. Taking full advantage of the distraction, Natsuki yanked the heiress to her feet and shoved her back towards the ruins.

"Run!"

Yang and a freed Ruby joined them in their run back to the ruins. The male faunus is standing at the edge of the ruins with his shotgun trained on the struggling Grimm behind them.

"The giant bird is coming back," Natsuki's partner reports as the avian Grimm shrieks down at them.

"What do we do?" Nickolas asked.

The heiress looks from the Nevermore back to the Death Stalker that has freed itself from the ice before responding. "Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us."

"She's right." Ruby declared. "Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the Cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things."

"Sounds like a plan," Natsuki replied.

Ruby rushed over to grab a chess piece before taking the lead away from the ruins. "Let's go."

* * *

Natsuki watched the sky above as she crouched behind a broken pillar next to Yang as the Nevermore shrieks from where it had perched on a tower.

"Well, _that's_ great," The blonde complained bitterly while Natsuki peered at it through the scope of her rifle.

Behind them, the Death Stalker burst out of the trees and set its gaze on the group of eight.

"Run!" Natsuki ordered and everyone abandoned their hiding spots.

The Nevermore lifted into the air as soon as they had done so. With a flap of its wings, it sent a hail of feathers shooting towards them. Natsuki briefly takes cover behind a chunk of stone and quickly switched out the partial clip in her gun for a fresh one marked on the bottom with a lightning bolt and a swirling pattern. She then propped the gun on the block for stability as she peered through the crosshairs of her scope. She fired three shots in total, the custom Dust bullets exploding against its face in a cloud of blue electricity and an explosive burst of air. With a shriek, it retreated.

Natsuki spun around at the sound of the black-haired girl and Yasmin striking the hard carapace of the Death Stalker that had rushed up behind her. A hand closed around her upper arm and she was yanked to safety in a cloud of rose petals. Recovering relatively quickly from the changes in speed, Natsuki nodded to Ruby in thanks before they rushed towards the bridge. Behind them, the Death Stalker chased the two agile girls.

Once on the bridge, Natsuki wheeled around and fired a shot into the Death Stalkers face to distract it and give the two girls some distance before chasing after the other five.

"Nevermore!" Xander suddenly shouts, pausing in front of them to fire shots at the giant bird as it swept towards them. His bullets were useless against a Grimm that big and it crashes through the bridge, trapping the three girls and him on a small section of the bridge between a long fall and the Death Stalker.

Afraid to hit either of the other girls with the way they are jumping around the Grimm's attacks while slashing with their weapons, Natsuki slings her rifle over her shoulder and jumps forward as the black-haired girl is knocked aside by the Grimm. Yasmin flickers in and out of Natsuki's perception disorientingly as she attacks and the wolf faunus is beginning to think that girl must have some sort of invisibility semblance. She doesn't dwell on it for long as she attacks the Grimm head on aiming kicks with the back of her heel towards its eyes. The sharpened spurs dig shallow grooves into the armored plating but are little more than an annoyance. During a particularly powerful ax kick, the Grimm catches the attack on one of its claws and throws her backward. She flips midair to land on her feet and skids backward right into the black-haired girl.

The girl falls off the edge of the bridge and Natsuki desperately drops to the ground to snag her wrist because she had not meant to knock her off. The other girl's brilliant amber eyes are wide in startled surprise. Somewhere behind her, Xander and Yasmin are fighting the Death Stalker and without their help, Natsuki won't be able to drag the girl back up.

* * *

Nickolas is trapped in indecision. Somewhere behind him Yang, Ruby, and the heiress are firing shots at the giant Nevermore, but in front of him across a gap too wide to jump is his partner and the other three members of their group and it's clear that they're in need of far more assistance, especially with Natsuki trying to keep the other girl from falling into the chasm at the risk of falling herself. A sharp crack rings out as the Death Stalkers tail strikes the bridge hard, a long crack traveling through the thick stone between the two girls at the end of the broken bridge from the other two.

He makes a decision. Firing a shot, he tries to seal the crack with ice to give them more time. A conversation seems to pass between the two girls and Natsuki almost reluctantly releases the other. The black-haired girl flips in midair and changes the form of her weapon into a curved scythe that she throws at the bridge at his feet. A long black ribbon trails from the weapon and she uses it to swing onto the back of the Nevermore as it passes beneath her. Seeing that she was safe, Nickolas returned his attention to the other three. Natsuki had gone straight back to fighting the Grimm with the other two before the end of the bridge had broken off, but now they all had even less room to maneuver around.

His semblance activated as he ejected the spent shell from his weapon. Almost instantaneously, his brain calculated everything from wind direction to the movement of his allies to the angle of his shotgun. He fired with only a few seconds between each to eject the spent shell, load a new one from the cylindrical magazine, and adjust his gun. In total, he shot ten times and with unerring accuracy, each of those shots struck home in the Death Stalker's ten eyes. The ice Dust contained within each slug activated, spikes of ice impaling outwards from insides its skull.

It was so sudden that Xander cleaved through one of the ice spikes with a hatchet while Yasmin did the same with her weapon. One of Natsuki's spurs on the other hand embedded itself into the ice and left the girl's tail lashing and her arms pinwheeling to keep her balance.

"Sorry!" He called and then winced sympathetically when she lost the fight for balance.

* * *

"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces, From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by. . . Card Winchester!"

Natsuki meets Cardin's glare unflinchingly as he leads his new team past them. She heads up onto the stage alongside her new team as the pictures taken for their student profile are put up on the screen to their left.

"Xander Irving. Nickolas Tachibana. Natsuki Sora. Yasmin Fiala. The four of you retrieved the gold rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team NNYX," Ozpin announced, his words followed by clapping from the audience. "Led by Natsuki Sora."

Natsuki's ears angled back in surprise beneath her hat, but she didn't say anything dispute his decision as she leads her new team off the stage. Two of the four students that had single handily taken down the Nevermore had smiled and given them thumbs as they passed. The black-haired girl tilted her head in acknowledgment while the Schnee kept her attention on Ozpin. She'd never thanked Natsuki for saving her life. As the new team was announced as Team RWBY led by Ruby Rose, the wolf faunus found herself fidgeting with the tear in the sleeve of her plaid shirt and the torn skin beneath.

* * *

 **How Weiss-cold of you, Weiss.**


End file.
